Former C.I.A. Chief John Brennan to Become a Fellow at Fordham

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John Brennan, the former director of the C.I.A., testified before the House Intelligence Committee in May. Brennan, a 1977 graduate of Fordham, will take a fellowship at the Center on National Security at the university’s law school.CreditCreditAl Drago/The New York Times

John O. Brennan, the former director of the C.I.A., has been named a distinguished fellow for global security at the Fordham University School of Law’s Center on National Security.

Mr. Brennan, who led the agency from 2013 until January, will take over the new position on Tuesday, participating in the nonpartisan center’s efforts to draw public attention to issues involving national security, foreign policy, governance and the rule of law.

Mr. Brennan said he would be focusing on solutions to some of the country’s foreign policy quandaries, including the crisis with North Korea.

“There is no easy or fast solution, but we cannot allow Kim Jong-un to continue on the path he is on,” Mr. Brennan said in an interview.

Mr. Brennan said that he supported the continued strengthening of American military capabilities as well as increasing economic sanctions — including against Chinese banks that work with North Korea. He noted that diplomacy had worked when the United States reached a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, and diplomacy could work again with North Korea.

At Fordham, Mr. Brennan said that he would also mentor students who are interested in government service and national security. He earned his undergraduate degree, in political science, at Fordham in 1977.

“I used to take the bus from my home in New Jersey then two subway transfers to the Bronx to go to school,” he said. “I wanted to give back to Fordham because I felt my time there was so important to me.”

Experts who have previously spent time as fellows at the Center on National Security include the terrorism expert Peter Bergen, the New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright, and the former Pentagon official Michael Sheehan.

But Karen J. Greenberg, the founding director of the center, said that Mr. Brennan “will be the first fellow with this title.”

Mr. Brennan has not kept a low profile since his departure from the C.I.A. earlier this year.

Mr. Brennan told the committee that he was aware of intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and people involved in the Trump campaign and said he had been concerned “because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals.”

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